In the United States
there is a state known as the “show-me” state.
It is very human, when
confronted with something difficult, to expect, even to seek proof, for example
to be told 2 + 2 = 4 is one thing, to be handed 2 apples and then 2 more, as an
unexpected gift, results in the joy both of receiving the gift and having 4
apples!
Suddenly I recall one
of my philosophy professors who was the type of personality he would jump in
here and ask: “What proof do we have the apples exist?”
When he challenged a
student about proof of existence the student flicked his bick, as was an saying
from an advertisement and, flame turned up high, approached the professor and
challenged him to hold his hand over the flame if he doubted its existence,
because his hand would not burn.
Wisely the professor
declined!
St. John notes that
Jesus was welcomed by the Galileans because they had seen miracles – yet
‘proof’ alone can itself be tricky.
A magician can say
they will make a rabbit appear, and the rabbits appears, but this is NOT proof
that previously the rabbit did not exist!
It was simply cleverly hidden.
Miracles per se do not
prove the divinity of Jesus, that He is the Messiah.
Indeed, it is His
laying down His life for us which points to the truth He IS our Redeemer and
His Holy Resurrection which confirms who He is, and all He reveals to us.
However, some people,
even if shown proof, will refuse to accept objective truth, indeed many insist
there is no such thing as objective truth.
Canada, where I live,
is a winter country and we have had snow in this northern city since the
beginning of October.
It is a truth, in the
sense of a fact, that some Canadians hate winter.
It is a more
widespread fact most enjoy winter: the snow, the sports, the laughter of young
and old sliding down a hill on sleds, toboggans, inner tubes, flattened
cardboard boxes.
It is also a harsh
fact for the homeless winter is an unpleasant and dangerous time.
However, there is
another fact: many seasonal workers depend on winter for work, logging, tending
to the needs of those who come to the ski hills in the mountains, and yes in
the cities: the men and women who run the plows and sanders, the day labours
hired by businesses to keep their walks cleared.
A fact is a type of
truth.
What Jesus offers is
no mere fact, no mere type, Jesus offers the template of truth: Himself!
St. John Paul, along
with many other saints and theologians, but with papal wisdom and clarity,
addresses the whole matter of truth in his encyclical VERITATIS SPLENDOR [ The
Splendour of Truth.]
It is within the orbit
of the splendour of truth that we are indeed truly free.
No truth, no freedom.
The clearest, most
objective truth of all is that we exist because we are beloved of Love Himself
who creates us.
Lamentations in
chapter 3 notes: The steadfast love of
the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to and end; they are new every
morning……and in Wisdom we note, in chapter 3: Those who trust in Him will understand truth, and the faithful will
abide with Him in love……
Deeper into his Gospel
account – 8:32, St. John notes Jesus telling those who already believe in Him
and therefore every human being open to believing in Him: Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in Him, “If you remain in My
word, you will truly be My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free.”
Even more clearly in
14:6 Jesus leaves no room for doubt, true we can still deny what is revealed
but its force remains intact: Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me.”
Continuing meditating
upon the current chapter we note St. John inserts another, as it were
‘reminder’ in v.46= Then He returned to
Cana in Galilee, where He had made the water wine.
The Evangelist is here
restating a salient truth, for he is reminding us of 2:11- Jesus did this as the beginning of His signs in Cana in Galilee
and so revealed His glory, and His disciples began to believe in Him.
While many
contemporary translations of the Gospels use the term “signs”, rather than the
term “miracle”, sign in the Gospels always indicate Christ performing a
miracle, a sign which points to His divine power and authority over the
material universe.
St. John references fewer miracles than the
other Evangelists as his focus is more on the teachings of Jesus, given, as we
shall see, in detail.
Also of note the
Evangelist makes frequent reference to glory, life, hour, the Father and the “I
am” statements, declarations of truth, made by Jesus such as in 14:6, noted above.
v.46-47= Now there was a royal official whose
son was ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from
Judea, he went to Him and asked Him to come down and heal his son, who was near
death.
Stark are the words of
the Evangelist: ‘was near death.’
Who has not, as a
parent, sibling, grandparent, or other family member or close friend,
neighbour, not experienced the anguish of parents whose child is terminally
ill?
In the face of such
enormous stress, panic, powerlessness there is nothing a parent would not do to
save their child.
We can imagine the
haste with which this official sought out Jesus, the hope, perhaps even hope against
hope, he had that what he’d heard about Jesus was true and that Jesus would
save his son.
v. 48= Jesus said to him, “Unless you people
see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
What?
Where is the
compassionate Jesus, why this apparently harsh rebuke?
First the use of ‘you’
here is the plural, for in His statement to the official Jesus is challenging
everyone, you and me too, to examine if our faith is a trust-choice to believe,
and therefore is a response to the gift of faith from the Holy Spirit, or a
superficial act based only on what we determine as tangible proof.
v. 49= The royal official said to him, “Sir,
come down before my child dies.”
The official’s instant
reply is reminiscent of the reply of the Canaanite woman advocating for her
daughter as St. Matthew records [cf. Mt. 15: 21-28].
It is the power of
parental love that they skip over, ignore if you will, any reply that does not
fulfill the passionate urgency to see their child healed.
Implicit in the
official’s instant reply is a statement of true faith.
v. 50= Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son
will live.”
How quickly Jesus
responds to acts of faith.
However, it is
important to keep in mind, when it seems we pray unceasingly with faith and
days, perhaps weeks, months, years pass without the answer we want, never to be
discouraged for every heartbeat and breath witnesses we are beloved and cared
for, and that His answer, while it may not be as instantaneously as we want, or
even precisely what we ask for, His answer is always both what is best for us
and when it is best for us.
Trusting this truth is
a true act of faith.
The man believed what Jesus said to him and
left.
When parents in a
hospital watch their child be taken out of sight into surgery there are often
hours of waiting, with all the attendant uncertainty and anxiety that they will
get to see their child brought into the recovery room and be told by the
surgeon that all will be well.
Even if we have not
had that exact experience, all of us have had some experience where we had to
wait, endure the waiting.
Thus, the official, as
simple as it may appear as an action, left after Jesus’ assurance.
Every parent knows, we
should all know, this action was far from simple, it was a bold act of trust,
trust in Jesus and His word, indeed His promise-assurance.
v.51= While he was on his way back, his slaves
met him and told him that his boy would live.
It does appear, even
though they were enslaved, those who rushed to bring the good news to the
official had more than a sense of mere duty towards him and his family. The
goodness of the human heart, even when enslaved, or in labour or death camps or
prisons, retains the capacity for genuine charity, indeed under such conditions
acts of charity are truly heroic.
v. 52-53= He asked them when he began to
recover. They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the
afternoon.” The father realized that
just at that time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he and his
whole household came to believe.
Given that the father
was of noble rank his household would have included the very slaves mentioned
above, as well as his son and other family members.
This act of the
official and his household becoming believers is the greater miracle.
As impressive as
external miracles are, the conversion of hearts is, always has and will be, the
greater sign of grace in action, Divine Love in action, when through the gift
of faith love-grace is responded to and cooperated with.
v.54= This was the second sign Jesus did when
he came to Galilee from Judea.
